So, you want to work in your dream career, and you don’t know where to start? Maybe you’re in the early stages of job hunting, or you’re a seasoned professional looking to make a change.
The truth is, the job market is even more competitive now than it was even 12 months ago, and methods to ensure that you can stand out are consistently changing. From people digitising their CVs into websites to sending videos of themselves to hiring managers showcasing their personality and talent, there’s this narrative that suggests the bigger the gesture, the higher the chance you’ll be noticed.
We agree with this sentiment, but we also don’t completely agree that you should put on a 3-part Netflix series and circus show to get noticed by your dream employer.
Personal Branding - let’s remind you what it really is
Personal branding and its definition can often get lost in the abyss sometimes. Social media has created an echo chamber of opinions where everybody has their own interpretation of what your personal brand should be. If you’re consuming this information on a platform that doesn’t translate well in the professional world (TikTok, we’re talking about you) then it can feel conflicting to take advice that doesn’t quite fit: you’re trying to fit a square peg (method) into a round hole (result).
By actual definition, (Oxford) a personal brand is “The construction and promotion by an individual of their own public image through social media”. The key example we talk about for Personal Branding is LinkedIn, and that’s the platform we’ll be focusing on for the duration of this article.
Building your personal brand on LinkedIn
Before we get into how you can land your dream role using your personal brand, we want to run through “the basics” of personal branding to give you a bit of a refresh.
Finding your tone of voice
A great way to break down the tone of voice is ensuring that when you read something written by you, it doesn’t sound like a completely different person is writing!
Expressing ourselves through the written word doesn’t need to be complex or involve using vocabulary that we wouldn’t necessarily use in our day-to-day conversations. Instead, focus on being concise, yourself, and don’t overthink it so much!
“Tone of voice is how a brand communicates and connects with its audience through messaging and customer interactions. It helps businesses differentiate themselves from the competition and communicate their brand values to their audience.”
For more advice/templates on how you can craft your tone of voice, Semrush has created a set of incredible tools you can start using today.
Being consistent with what you talk about
Especially on LinkedIn, it can be easy to fall into the trap of trying to follow every trend or topic that people are talking about.
Although it’s good to switch things up and ensure that you’re talking about topical things, you also want to talk about things that are consistent with your personal brand and image. Pick three key things or themes and ensure that each time you post, you have consistency around at least one!
Include images and videos where possible
Images and video content naturally draw your audience in quicker, and can also be a lot easier to digest than a lengthy text-based post. It’s also a great alternative if you don’t enjoy writing as much, and instead can let your images do the talking.
Focus on what your audience wants and how you want to be perceived
Somewhere that people go wrong with personal branding is assuming that their audience wants to hear about a specific topic - without any evidence or research to back this up.
To understand your target market, you need to know what type of content they hope to consume and what they want to hear about.
To read our full article on this, click here.
How do people turn their dreams into reality using their personal brand?
Now you’ve got the basics, you can start to build your personal brand on LinkedIn and utilise it as a way to grow your network and ensure that your profile is seen. However, what about that dream role? How can you leverage your personal brand to truly work in your favour?
Be bold about what you want
Instead of applying and hoping that you’ll get your dream role, why not use it as a focal point for your personal brand?
For example, actively posting about your goals and dreams and talking about the type of role you want to grow into will consistently tell your network where you want to be and who you want to work for.
Let’s say your dream role is to work in the Marketing department for Lululemon.
Your logical first steps would be to connect with senior leaders on LinkedIn who work at Lululemon, introduce yourself, and register your interest in any live roles they have.
The second step would be to interact with what Lululemon posts and what their senior leaders post.
The third step would be to actively use Lululemon (or the activewear industry) as a focal point of your personal brand. You could even be bold enough to post saying that your dream role is at Lululemon.
It’s about putting your personality (your personal brand) in front of people
The bottom line is that the role of your personal brand in landing your dream role is completely dependent on you! How bold do you want to be? How determined are you to network and showcase who you are?
The choice is yours.
